Britain's biggest retailer Tesco has announced plans to close its non-food website Tesco Direct.

The company say they could not make the loss-making business profitable.

The group said Tesco Direct will cease trading on July 9 and, as part of this, the intention is to close the distribution centre in Milton Keynes, south east England, which handles the website's orders.

It said the decision means 500 workers across the business will be at risk of redundancy.

In addition, Tesco intends to close a fulfilment centre at Fenny Lock which also handles orders.

It cited a number of "significant challenges", including high costs for fulfilment and online marketing, which have prevented it from delivering a "sustainable offer as a standalone non-food business".

Tesco Direct will close in July with 500 jobs now at risk

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Tesco will now focus on a single online platform for groceries, general merchandise and clothing - Tesco.com.

Charles Wilson, Tesco's UK and Ireland boss, said: "We want to offer our customers the ability to buy groceries and non-food products in one place and that's why we are focusing our investment into one online platform.

"This decision has been a very difficult one to make, but it is an essential step towards establishing a more sustainable non-food offer and growing our business for the future."